High speed floor burnishers typically include a circular polishing element (pad or brush) mounted beneath a shroud or cover and forming a pad driver assembly. The pad driver is mounted beneath an electric motor energized by batteries or conventional wall outlet so that the motor may drive the pad directly. The combination of motor, shroud and pad are sometimes referred to as the head assembly.
In the case of larger machines, the motor is driven by a number of large storage batteries. In order to provide mobility, the batteries are carried on a chassis and enclosed within a housing; and the head assembly is mounted in front of the housing for movement between a raised position for maintenance, transport or storage, and a lowered position, in which the pad driver is located just above the floor with the bottom surface of the pad generally parallel to the floor. When the motor is turned on, rotation of the pad creates a suction effect, and the head assembly is drawn down to the floor to exert a downward pressure on the floor by the rotating pad, thus polishing the floor.
The head assembly, primarily because it includes a fairly large electric motor, may have considerable weight, and mounting the head assembly cantilevered in front of the machine has been found to present problems. For example, it is desirable that the operator be able to move the head assembly between the transport position and the use or ready (lowered) position manually so that costly additional actuators or power mechanisms need not be included.
Another problem sometimes present in burnishing machines of this type is that it is difficult to adjust the pressure which the pad is creating on the floor being burnished. Electrical systems have been developed for measuring the pad pressure on the floor, and a display of that pressure may be presented at a console in front of the operator. Typically, a needle indicates that the operating pressure is within design range which may be graphically indicated by a green band. Pressure measuring systems are commercially available. It has been a problem, however, to adjust the operating pressure so that it is within the desired operating range during operation of the machine.